Lindsay Bird Mpetyane
Lindsay Bird Mpetyane was born in Ungoola and now lives in Mulga Bore in the Northern Territory. Together with his wife Mavis Petyarre, who is also an artist, and his three daughters, they live in the Utopia District. Lindsay is an important tribal leader in the Utopia District and is the headman at Mulga Bore Outstation. He first began painting on canvas in the late 1980s, and was instrumental in making acrylic paintings more important in the Utopia District.
His artworks are characterised by great precision and fine colour combinations. After Emily Kame Kngwarreye, he was one of the first Aboriginal artists to have a solo exhibition. Lindsay's paintings are both iconic and linear. He uses traditional symbols with background dotting of ochre yellow, red, black and white, or paints his Spear Straightening paintings with straight lines. He is also known for under painting the canvas usually in grey or ochre making his paintings quite distinct.
As a Senior Law Man, Lindsay Bird can depict different themes of men's law in his paintings. One of the main themes in his paintings is the sacred ceremonial sites that are used for Aboriginal men's business. These sites are protected by various spirits or guardians that keep away everything that has no right to be near the site. These special places are known to Lindsay through his Snake Dreaming where two snakes grew up together and travelled the land marking important places such as Elgoanna. Often Lindsay depicts these sites using a circular design surrounded by a series of men's hunting weapons which represent the guardian spirits.
Exhibitions
2008 'Markers Of Time: Utopia 1993 and 2007', Desert Rain, Noosa
2003 Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs
1999, 2000, 2002 Chapel off Chapel Gallery, Melbourne
1999 'Spirit Country', Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, U.S.A
1998 Mbantua Art Gallery, Alice Springs
1998 'Dreamings Exhibitions', Vlaams - Europeesch Brussels, Belgium
1998 'Dreamings Exhibitions', Spazio Pitti Arte Florence, Italy
1994 Central Australian Aboriginal Art & Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
1993 Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Collections
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Darwin
The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth
The Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, USA
Museum of Victoria
High Court Canberra
Mbantua Gallery Permanent Collection, Alice Springs
Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra
The CAAMA collection
Federal Airport Collection
Kluge Collection, USA
Artbank
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